Servant Leadership
Robert K. Greenleaf never specifically defined servant leadership but, based on the writings of Greenleaf and others, it can still be defined as a leadership philosophy which implies a comprehensive view of the quality of people, work and community spirit. It requires a spiritual understanding of identity, mission, vision and environment. A servant leader is someone who is servant first, who has responsibility to be in the world, and so he contributes to the well-being of people and community. A servant leader looks to the needs of the people and asks himself how he can help them to solve problems and promote personal development. He places his main focus on people, because only content and motivated people are able to reach their targets and to fulfill the set expectations.
In his essay The Servant as Leader, Greenleaf said:
It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead. That person is sharply different from one who is leader first, perhaps because of the need to assuage an unusual power drive or to acquire material possessions…The leader-first and the servant-first are two extreme types. Between them there are shadings and blends that are part of the infinite variety of human nature.
Read more about Servant Leadership: Characteristics of Being A Servant Leader, History of Servant Leadership, Models of Servant Leadership, Servant Leadership Philosophy and Its Link With Leadership Theory, Advantages, Disadvantages
Famous quotes containing the words servant and/or leadership:
““Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to your word; for mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared in the presence of all peoples, light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to thy people Israel.””
—Bible: New Testament (RSV)
“The liberal wing of the feminist movement may have improved the lives of its middle- and upper-class constituency—indeed, 1992 was the Year of the White Middle Class Woman—but since the leadership of this faction of the feminist movement has singled out black men as the meta-enemy of women, these women represent one of the most serious threats to black male well-being since the Klan.”
—Ishmael Reed (b. 1938)